As of: February 22, 2024, 10:03 p.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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The numbers are devastating: In Ukraine, the army, soldiers and society are discussing how many hundreds of men remained in Avdiivka and were taken prisoner by Russia.
Avdiivka – Russia is selling the capture of Avdiivka in Ukraine as a military victory.
Moscow only took the completely destroyed small town with dramatic losses.
That much is considered certain.
Ukraine War: Russia pays for the capture of Avdiivka with very high losses
As several media outlets reported shortly before the withdrawal, citing Ukrainian army spokesman Dmytro Lykhovii, the Russian army is said to be mourning around 17,000 soldiers killed in and around Avdiivka.
Furthermore, another 30,000 Russian soldiers are said to have been wounded in the fighting for the former industrial city in the past four months.
The information cannot be independently verified.
But: Ukrainian losses are also high.
This is suggested by reports from Ukrainian soldiers of the 3rd Assault Brigade, who pulled trapped units of the 110th Mechanized Brigade out of the city at the last minute.
And yet, according to reports, hundreds of Ukrainians are said to have become Russian prisoners of war there.
A Ukrainian soldier reports heavy losses after the Avdiivka withdrawal.
© Screenshot ZDF media library
Against Russia's army: Ukrainian soldiers report fierce fighting
“Our defense lines are destroyed.
The enemy has seven soldiers to one of us.
The enemy advances and advances.
“He’s pushing us back with his artillery,” a Ukrainian soldier named Maxim told a Polish war photographer, whose photos were published by
ZDF
’s “heute journal” on Wednesday (February 21).
“Terrible, very terrible.
Many of our men died defending Avdiivka.
They gave their lives for this,” a fighter named Ilia explained in the post.
Another soldier named Roman said from Avdiivka: “Many boys are injured, some have fallen.
But we managed to get a lot of soldiers out.
Otherwise we would have been surrounded.
All units have come out.
But they say some people are left in basements.”
Donbass: Were 800 Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner of war in Avdiivka?
According to rumors, some of them were hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers from the 110th mechanized brigade, some of whom had been fighting against Russian superiority in Avdiivka for months.
“Ukraine has its back to the wall militarily in the east.
The army leadership openly admits that there is a lack of soldiers and ammunition and enough equipment,” reported the well-known ZDF journalist Katrin Eigendorf from Kiev.
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What's more: The General Staff should contradict reports from front-line soldiers that more than 800 Ukrainians in the Donbas city were captured by Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin's Russian invading army.
According to Eigendorf, the soldiers were criticized for “practically leaving them alone and not pursuing a clear strategy.”
She noted that 800 men would be “the largest number of prisoners of war since Mariupol.”
In any case, it is a huge setback for Ukraine.
Ukraine front near Avdiivka: Russian army captures Bradley infantry fighting vehicle
Why the general staff around the new commander-in-chief Alexander Syrskyj, whom they call the “Butcher of Bakhmut,” held on to Avdiivka for so long, even though the 110th mechanized brigade was literally begging for relief in the end, was not communicated from the capital even days after the chaotic withdrawal .
The hopelessness of the fighting there had been announced at least since the beginning of February because the Russian pincer was tightening and the only route left to retreat was a country road in an open field.
According to photos from Russian agencies and videos from Russian military bloggers, the Ukrainians also left behind several destroyed American-made Bradley M2 infantry fighting vehicles and M113 armored personnel carriers, which the Russians can now inspect.
Russian soldiers use a tank to tow away a destroyed Ukrainian American Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in Avdiivka.
© IMAGO/Dmitry Yagodkin
New Russian offensive at Robotyne in southern Ukraine
According to the US think tank
Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
and Ukrainian bloggers, Moscow's troops are trying to move directly behind Avdiivka in order to advance further.
However, this has so far been prevented.
In addition, the Russians have apparently launched a new offensive near Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in order to retake positions they had lost there in the direction of the small town of Orikhiv.
As the American broadcaster
CNN
reports, Russia has gathered up to 50,000 soldiers there alone.
(pm)